Google Allo vs WhatsApp: Which messaging app has more features and is better to use

Both the apps are user-friendly and have their own pros and cons.

WhatsApp has long-held the top spot in the instant messaging field with the largest number of active users compared to any other app. Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Viber, BBM and others haven't matched WhatsApp's popularity on a global level. Now, Google has joined the race with its latest instant messaging app Allo.

Google Allo offers fresh and unique features that lack in most existing messaging apps. But the bigger question is whether this will help the company outbid or come anywhere close to the competition that WhatsApp has set at the moment.

We will be highlighting the features of both Allo and WhatsApp to see which app is better to use, and where do these apps miss out on.

Google Allo

Pros

AI-based Google Assistant

Funny stickers

Emoticons

Smart reply

Incognito mode for end-to-end encrypted messaging

Offline messaging with Google Assistant

Integrated web search using Google Assistant

Change text size

Cross-platform messaging

Group messaging

Free to download

No ads

Picture recognition

Doodle on photos before sharing

Share GIFs

Cons

No voice calling

No Windows app

Not many users on the network yet, invite necessary to chat

No chat backup option

No last seen or online status

Cant share documents

Supports only English for now

WhatsApp

Pros

World's largest network of users

Voice calling

Broadcast feature

Star important messages

Set personal status for profiles

Shows last seen time on profiles and also when a user is online

Read receipts

Share docs, photos, contacts, audio, video

Access app from Web

Multiple platform support

Free to download

No ads

End-to-end encryption by default

Supports all major languages

Sharing from third-party apps like Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud

Cons

No AI-enabled personal assistant

Lacks smart replies

No photo editing tools

Information sharing with Facebook (part of the latest update)

No GIFs supported

Google Allo's battle has just started and it has a long way to go before it reaches where WhatsApp is currently at. The Facebook-owned messaging service has more than 1 billion users, while Allo has just started to attract users with its public debut.